Report No.279: Egypt’s Divided Political Society and ‘Loyal Opposition’

Image: Tamer A. Soliman / shutterstock.com

This report analyses Egypt’s opposition, which has failed to rise up to the challenge of being a democratic force in the country’s politics. Horizontal solidarity and mounting challenges to incumbent governments are currently missing components among opposition actors. The status quo reveals a situation in which the multitude of political parties, officially numbering 87, on the Egyptian political scene alternate between unity and division in their relations with each other and have failed to affect a shift from being a ‘loyal’ to ‘democratic’ opposition. Sustained interparty cooperation across the domains of shadow government, prisoners of conscience and election campaigns can contribute to remedying these weaknesses within Egypt’s potentially vibrant opposition.